Fungii.com

January 02, 2003

European Copyrights Expiring

In this NY Times article, we find out european copyrights are expiring on recordings from the 1950's. Cool. The RIAA's reaction? ``The import of those products would be an act of piracy,'' said Neil Turkewitz, the executive vice president international of the Recording Industry Association of America, which has strongly advocated for copyright protections. ``The industry is regretful that these absolutely piratical products are being released.'' And they wonder why everybody hates them. Wasn't the whole idea of copyright supposed to be a temporary protection of the originator's work so they could make money before it falls into public domain where everybody benefits from their work? Now its seems to benefit large corporations who can rip off artists and buy politicians to change laws so they can make money in perpetuity for doing sweet fuck all. The bastards. Defenders of extended copyright terms, like Mr. Turkewitz, argue that, if anything, American laws are still too lax and that the European laws are woefully inadequate. They don't want copyrights to ever expire do they? Long after the original author of the work is dead, they want to keep raking in the dough for doing what, exactly? Nothing. And they have the nerve to claim this promotes creativity. ``The public sees icons like Mickey Mouse and thinks that the companies must by now have made their money,'' he said. But, he added, 9 out of 10 sound recordings lose money. ``Very few materials wind up generating the revenues that sustain an entire system,'' he said. ``The amount of money put back into production by the record companies is enormous. It's extremely risk-intensive.'' Yeah, well if 9 out of 10 recordings get pirated, then that should save you from losing money on them, eh? [its a joke]